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Alfred Overington was born in Durrington in 1913, where his family had run the local forge for generations:
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LANE These heritage trails have been adapted from those originally published by the Worthing Heritage Alliance between 2011 and 2013.
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“I’m not sure [my father] wanted me to become a blacksmith because it was sweated labour. I don’t think anyone would voluntarily go in to be a blacksmith… . In my youth they used to start the forge at 6 o’clock in the morning and be on ‘til 5 or 6 at night. But in the summer … they’d stop from 12 until about 3 o’clock in the afternoon – because it’d be too hot”.
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“The forge closed about 1930 – round about then – because farming went away from this part of the country. We used to shoe all the horses from Goring Castle (sic) and all the farms around. When I was a schoolboy there used to be at least ten or twelve horses waiting outside the forge in the mornings. So it was quite a busy agricultural area in my youth… .”
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1 The John Selden (BN13 2EN) This pub is named after the famous parliamentarian and judicial historian, John Selden, who was born in 1584 in Lacies Cottage (sadly demolished following a fire in 1956) in what is now Selden’s Way (off Stone Lane). Selden argued in favour of the rights of Parliament and against the arbitrary
Old Durrington Remembered
Further Reading How to Make a Boring Life Sound Interesting, by Jean Kirk. A fascinating and personal history of Durrington and Salvington. Edwardian Durrington and Salvington, the story of a community between 1901 – 1913, by Jane Dore. A vivid picture of a community on the threshold of change. Durrington, sources for local history, by Chris Hare
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1 Old Sussex House
5 Returning to Salvington Road, we come to Old Sussex House, which occupies a significant area of ground on the northern side of the road, just to the west of The John Selden and dates back to the seventeenth century. It was originally a farmhouse, and retained an agricultural use until the 1960s. There is very impressive ‘knapped’ flintwork on the front elevation, the work of skilled craftsmen, who could shape flint to fit together like bricks. Within the grounds is Old Sussex Cottage, which itself dates from the late eighteenth century. Outbuildings, including a barn, still survive and lend a distinctly rustic feel to this part of Salvington.
Half Moon House
The John Selden
rule of the King. John Milton described Selden as ‘the chief of learned men reputed in this land.’ Selden died in 1654, having lived to see the abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords. In the nineteenth century a pub called ‘The Spotted Cow’, demolished in 1910, stood on the site of the present-day ‘John Selden.’
Gillian Wells, born in Durrington in 1935, remembered the Rev. Penfold as being “a nice man,” although he was, “always very correct.” He was very tall, but his wife was “very tiny,” although she gave birth to a large family of sons and daughters. Gillian remembered that the couple opened up their extensive gardens once a year: “I remember the Vicarage because there was an annual fete every year so the Vicarage gardens were open and all the stalls in the field next to it with pony rides and hoopla and things like that… . But as children, on the Vicarage lawn we used to dance round a maypole and one of the vicar’s daughters used to sit at an open window playing a piano so that music floated out and the children danced round the maypole.” Gillian remembered it all being “rather lovely.”
have been a medieval hall house that was remodelled in the seventeenth century and thoroughly restored in 1911. It is believed to be the oldest surviving building in Salvington or Durrington.
2 Old cottages and buildings There is a fine selection of eighteenth and nineteenth century houses in, or to the east of, Salvington Road. Walnut Tree Cottage in Ashacre Lane is a Grade II listed building dated 1762. Most impressive is The Old House opposite in Ashacre Lane (not easily seen from the road due to trees and bushes), which is believed to
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3 Walking up Half Moon Lane, we come to two historic buildings on the left. The first, no. 11, dates from the early nineteenth century with later additions. Today it is Half Moon House, but was once the Half Moon Inn, which was later converted into a laundry with adjacent tea rooms. The green at the front was once occupied by Salvington Pond.
4 No. 43 Half Moon Lane dates from the late eighteenth century and has a mansarded or ‘hipped roof,’ a style of building abandoned in the nineteenth century. At the time of writing the property was up for sale, having been occupied by the same family for 130 years. Salvington Nurseries, also known as Taylor’s Nurseries were attached to the property.
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43 Half Moon Lane
7 Durrington Library was opened in 1938, the year after the new school and was a sign of the growing population of Durrington, which was rapidly changing from an agricultural village into a suburb of Worthing. It was at this time that Salvington Lane was widened and resurfaced and renamed Salvington Road. The library was remodelled with a glass roof in 1986.
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The Park View (formerly The Lamb)
8 The Park View (until recent years known as ‘The Lamb’.) The first known written reference to The Lamb pub is in a guide book of 1808, although an inn on the site may have existed by 1740. According to local legend, the first landlord was a retired shepherd – hence ‘The Lamb.’ The current building was constructed in 1914 and completely replaced the old building. Records survive from 1769 of Thomas Lilywhite
was originally built in 1908 to serve children in Durrington up until the age of 13 (after which schooling was voluntary and dependent on scholarships and exam grades). It is reported that the first pupil enrolled into the school was Albert Charman,
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Durrington Library
and John Parsons of Durrington being fined three shillings and fourpence ‘for drinking in the Public House in time of Divine Service,’ although somewhat perversely Edward Pascoe was fined ten shillings for drinking in his own home during the church service – perhaps he was an old offender? At this time, parish accounts show that two gallons of beer were regularly provided for ‘corpse watchers’ – those paid to watch over the deceased of the parish until burial. It was considered a great slight on the memory and reputation of the dead to allow a corpse to be unaccompanied between death and committal.
9 The Old Forge and Rose
Cottage The Overington family were associated with these buildings for over 250 years. Henry Overington came to Durrington from Hampshire in 1740 to run the local blacksmith’s. The family continued to run a business from the property until recent times. During the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century, Overingtons held all the important offices of the parish, including Overseer of the Poor, Highway Surveyor, Churchwarden, and Parish Constable. They were also parish councillors and latterly, town councillors. When party-politics came into local government in the 1950s, Alfred Overington refused to adopt a party political colour and remained a ‘Durrington representative’ for many years, until finally defeated by the Conservatives.
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Durrington First School
6 Durrington First School
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who left a year later to find work. He was killed fighting during the First World War. The current school building was opened in 1937 to cater for a rising roll, largely drawn from the expanding estate of council houses north of Salvington Road. Discipline at the school appears to have broken down during the Second World War, with ‘children out of control and committing serious offences.’ In 1944 the school was temporarily closed after children were said to have ‘run wild’ and caused considerable damage. No such reputation hangs over the school today.
As you walk on westwards along Salvington Road, notice the 1968 Swandean telephone exchange (on your right), built in 1968 (that replaced the house known as ‘Red Cedars’), and regarded as a great innovation, as henceforth all calls in Salvington and Durrington were to be automatically connected without having to go through the operator. Note, also, on the south side, Bakers Court, built in 1987. This was originally the site of Cootes Bakery, built and established by the Coote family in 1900, until sold to Knowles Bakery in 1946
The Old Forge and Rose Cottage